Many electrical applications employ circuits requiring a wide variety of components. Depending upon the particular application involved, such as commercial or industrial lighting, some of those components can become relatively large. Such larger components, like capacitors, cannot be formed as part of an integrated circuit board. Instead, such components are manufactured separately for attachment to the circuit board, electrical plate, or the like at a later time via soldering or various forms of hardwiring.
As a result, unlike integral components, larger electrical components are at risk for detachment from the circuit board or the like as a result of damage to the component solder joints or hardwiring. To prevent this, and to help maintain larger components such as capacitors or the like in a substantially fixed position relative to the circuit board or the like, retention straps or brackets are often utilized.
Typically, such brackets are formed from an integral piece of rigid material and include a base portion, a retention portion, and an intermediated portion interposed between the retention and base portions. The base portion is generally adapted to receive a fastener, such as a rivet or screw, for attaching the base portion to the circuit board or the like. In that regard, the base portion is positioned adjacent the component and parallel to the circuit board or the like.
The retention portion is adapted to contact the component, typically at the distal end thereof. The retention portion serves to retain the component via friction resulting from its contact therewith. However, the retention portion may also be adapted to receive a fastener for attaching the retention portion directly to the component. Like the base portion and the circuit board or the like, the retention portion is parallel to the surface of the distal end of the component.
The intermediate portion serves to attach the base and retention portions and typically runs the length of the component along one side thereof. As a result, the intermediate portion is usually sized to fit the particular component for which the retention bracket is intended. However, where the bracket is attached to the circuit board or the like via a mounting screw, different length screws may also be used to properly fit the bracket to the length of the component involved.
While such retention brackets are generally adequate for maintaining an electrical component in a substantially fixed position relative to a circuit board or the like, they nonetheless suffer from various problems. First and foremost among such problems is a lack of universality. That is, because the brackets are rigid, either the bracket or the mounting screw involved must be specially manufactured or chosen such that the bracket may properly fit the component involved. This, in turn, leads to higher costs.
Moreover, even with such a bracket, the component involved is still at risk for detachment from the circuit board or the like. That is, because the bracket supports the component only along one side thereof, the bracket does not afford the component the same measure of protection from forces exerted on the component from different directions, which result in the solder joint or hardwiring damage mentioned above.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved apparatus for maintaining an electrical component in a substantially fixed position relative to a circuit board or the like. Such an apparatus would be adapted for use with components having a variety of sizes and would afford such components generally uniform protection from forces exerted thereon.